The issues of France's expulsion of Roma groups and threats in the United States to burn copies of the Koran topped the agenda at a meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday. The 15th session of the 47-member council is scheduled to run until October 1, according to dpa. France rejected criticism from UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay that its deportations could "only exacerbate the stigmatisation of Roma and the extreme poverty and exclusion in which they live." France's UN ambassador, Jean-Baptiste Mattei, said there was no stigmatisation of minorities in France. There was also no "Roma problem," but some residents of the European Union have more problems with integration than others, he argued. France, he said, wants to work with other countries on that issue. Meanwhile, Pakistan's ambassador to the UN, Zamir Akram - speaking on behalf of council member states belonging to the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), called on Pillay to comment on threats in the United States to burn copies of the Koran. Such schemes are intended to defame and stigmatise one particular religion, he said. Because the high commissioner had addressed other grave human rights abuses, the OIC was left with the impression that a double standard was at play, Akram said. The gathering will also study a report on the Gaza flotilla incident, in which Israeli soldiers stormed an aid vessel and killed nine pro-Palestinian activists on board in May.
